N.L. TO A.L.
Ryan Dempster
If you held back on your Zack Greinke bid because you were hoping for something better to come across yesterday, let that be a lesson. Never be conservative assuming that something better is going to come along. Dempster's a fine add in his own right, but he was unlikely to keep throwing up a 2.25 ERA even before he changed venues from Wrigley to Arlington (yikes). If there's a small silver lining to this dark fantasy cloud, it's that he might be able to pick up a few more wins in Texas. The operative word here is might because - as we all know - it's always a poor idea to chase wins in the hope that you're going to get them. If you held back with Greinke, I feel like you have to break the bank with Dempster, but I have a feeling that you're going to be disappointed as Alan Rickman when he forgets to move the pork chops from the freezer to the refrigerator.
Geovany Soto
Will the change of scenery help? Soto looks like a mess to me, and while some of the batted ball indicators are in his favor (lower K% than years past, good LD%, decent IFFB% and HR/FB%), I don't have a lot of faith in Soto in 2012. If you need a catcher in A.L.-only you better put down a pretty decent FAAB bid ($25-30) but he's still likely to be a drag on your batting average. The gamble here is that Arlington will make some fly ball outs into long flies. This is a power play where you can't worry about the BA.
Casey McGehee
McGehee slots into a bench spot for the Yankees, but he'll play some first base while Mark Teixeira nurses what (at the moment) looks like a minor injury. With Alex Rodriguez out, McGehee should also play some third base, splitting time with Eric Chavez. There's some cheap power to be had here but - as I drum into everyone's head 100,000 times at this time of year - by now in a league with any kind of dump culture you should have someone better in your everyday line-up than McGehee. Unless, of course, you traded for A-Rod and have a black hole now.
Brad Lincoln
Maybe he'll sneak into the rotation at some point, but I doubt it. He was producing good value in Pittsburgh in the middle/long relief/spot starter role so he's fine to grab if you want to take a flier. As it often goes in cases like this, though, there are no guarantees that the smoke and mirrors will continue operating in the fun house all year long.
A.L. TO N.L.
Jonathan Broxton
There isn't a situation where a player goes from relevant to meaningless in a mixed league more so than when a closer becomes a non-closer. Years ago, Broxton's high K rates would have made him a borderline guy in standard mixed, but now you can just go ahead and dump him. In N.L.-only I also don't think he's worth the trouble. You might want to take a flier if you think he'll close somewhere in 2013 and you can keep him.
Brandon League
See Broxton. League is actually the better add than Broxton in terms of his potential ERA/WHIP/Ks, but is less likely to steal the odd save.
Travis Snider
I like this move by the Pirates. Snider "failed" with the Blue Jays, but he's 24 years old and still has the potential to be a fairly decent bat. I don't see superstar in Snider, but 15-20 HR with decent batting averages (.270-.280) wouldn't surprise me if he got regular time. You might be better off leaving Snider to those looking for keepers for 2013, but if you need the OF he's worth a $20-25 bid.
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